Software defined storage (SD S) is a popular design model for data storage systems. SDS systems typically include a form of storage virtualization to separate the storage hardware from the software that manages the storage infrastructure. For example, SDS systems may employ cloud computing platforms, where “cloud” refers to a collective computing infrastructure that implements a cloud computing paradigm.
One example of an SDS system that is characterized by ease-of-use, flexibility, and scalability is ScaleIO™, which is commercially available from EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass. Efficient data storage management in such a SDS system is important, especially as the system dynamically scales to accommodate changing storage requirements.